Did Affleck Choose Deathstroke As The First Batman Villain To Appeal To Fans Of ‘Arrow’?

The Current State Of The DCEU

Let’s break this one down a movie at a time. First, DC gave us Man of Steel. The film served as an introduction to DC’s tentpole character, Batma.. I mean, Superman. When the film was released, it seemed almost like an experiment to the WB. Like pasta that they weren’t sure was done, they decided to throw it up against the wall to see if it stuck. To the dismay of WB, the pasta didn’t completely fall, but it didn’t fully stick either. Like the pasta in this metaphor, Man of Steel stuck with half of the fandom, but fell straight to the floor with the other half. If there’s one word that best describes Man of Steel‘s reception, it is split.

The reason I use the reference of pasta being thrown at the wall is not because I’m hungry, but because that’s what they were doing with the movie in terms of an expanded universe. If it was successful, we’d get more. If not, it would meet he same fate as 2011’s shunned Green Lantern.  At the end of the day, even though Man of Steel received split reviews for the choppy editing, the destruction at the end, and the tone of the movie (among other things), it was still profitable enough to warrant launching a universe.

Next up was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, living proof that you can slap Batman’s name on anything and it’ll fill theaters. As a response to the split reviews for Man of Steel, WB decided to forgo any direct sequel and instead make a pseudo-sequel by pinning Batman onto the title. WB knew they needed a hit to follow up Man of Steel, and what better way than to include Bruce Wayne?

The marketing for Dawn of Justice was top notch, and it succeeded in doing what it was ultimately meant to – fill theaters and make money. Where it fumbled, however, was once again the critical response. Like Man of Steel, the critics were not kind of Dawn of Justice. Unlike Man of Steel, reception for Dawn of Justice wasn’t just split, it was outright bad. Critics complained about everything from various actors, to the tone, to the effects, to pretty much everything in between. I won’t sit here and say there weren’t flaws, but it seemed like the critics were out for blood. That was, of course, until I saw what “out for blood” really meant when I read reviews for the DCEU’s next and most recent chapter: Suicide Squad.

Suicide Squad was supposed to be the critical masterpiece that DC had been missing. Take Batman and add a dash of Guardians of the Galaxy, how could a combination like that go wrong? There was The Joker, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Deadshot, Batman, and even The Flash made a brief appearance. The soundtrack debuted at number one in the country, and the marketing was even more on point than WB’s marketing for Dawn of Justice. It had all the ingredients of a hit, and that is exactly why it came as such a surprise to me when it too was panned by critics. For the record, I loved this movie. I thought there were some issues with the villain, but other than that, it was everything I could have asked for. That’s why I was so shocked to read all of the negative reviews. I went into the film thinking I was going to dislike it, but I was blown away. If a movie that entertaining could be panned by critics, what else can the DCEU even try to do to win over critics and audiences at this point?

That’s when I put two and two together.

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